Konduku - Kıran

Konduku - Kıran
There's a track on Konduku's debut album called "Yağmur," Turkish for "rain." It's a good image to start with when describing the Rotterdamer's music, in which polyrhythms pitter-patter across the techno grid like raindrops drumming on a windowpane. Sometimes it's just a gentle drizzle, as on "Altın Saat" and "Mavi Saat," ravishing (and relatively straight) deep techno tunes that open and close the album in the style of its label, Nous'klaer Audio. Elsewhere the deluge gets stronger, and the music more distinctive.

Kıran's best tracks sound like a heads-down techno take on the Euclidean groove science of Don't DJ. Or maybe a zen cousin of the broken soundsystem techno coming out of the UK. (I first heard a Konduku track in a Batu set, and it sounded right at home.) Their spellbinding interwoven hand drums, skittering delays and loping kick drum patterns make for rich, subtle and rhythmically fierce music. The completeness of Konduku's aesthetic is particularly impressive given that Kıran is his first release.

The album tacks between rhythm-first workouts and more emotive tracks. The former make for the most lip-smacking dance floor gear: see "Güneş," with its fluttering low-end and dub siren squiggles, and "Kızılırmak," a firmer roller seasoned with sharp melody. But the latter tracks give the album its depth. On "Yesil Ağaç," percussive detail shows through inky pads like stars twinkling in the night sky. The goosebump-inducing "Gris Vs Beyaz Küp" borders on trance.

All of these tracks are eminently playable in spite of their unusual rhythms. Konduku gets bolder later on, flirting with a 7/8 time signature on a couple of tracks. "Yağmur" doesn't quite pull it off. It's the only moment where the drums don't flow, and the late kick drum and bassline entries are jarring. "Pembe Alan" is stronger, exploring a slouching lower tempo with flickering double-time embellishments. The track is ominous at first, before slipping back into a sleepily warm 4/4 in the second half.

This unpredictable arc is unusual. Konduku builds most of his tracks in roughly the same way, starting sparse and suggestive before ever-firmer drums nail down the groove. If there's one criticism of Kıran it's that Konduku can follow this arc too faithfully, where more fluid structures might have squeezed a few more drops of magic out of his materials. It's a minor flaw, though, and it doesn't make Kıran any less essential.